GAMEBOARD OF THE GODS

From the Age of X series, volume 1

Mead’s latest series centers around a bleak future in which organized religion is controlled by the government following the global incursion of a deadly disease.

Dr. Justin March has been exiled to Panama, a lawless territory by comparison to his home country of the Republic of United North America, which is headquartered in Canada. March was booted from his job as a servitor to the government and forced to live mostly by his wits and the protection offered by local thugs. But March has always yearned to return to his homeland and resume his former life, so when a delegation from RUNA Internal Security pops up offering him a chance to return if he can solve a mysterious string of homicides, he jumps at it. March bargains to have his also-banished sister, her young son and the brilliant teenage daughter of a local family who has been kind to him also return to RUNA, but he’s not prepared for the constant supervision provided by a gorgeous, but deadly, female soldier, one of the nation’s most elite killers. The two share a recent history that gets in the way of their professional relationship. There’s also a little bit more to the story, since March has had premonitions that the woman may figure prominently in his immediate future. As March and Mae, his bodyguard, travel in an effort to solve the case, the clock ticks down, and March realizes that if he doesn’t succeed, he’ll be sent back to Panama. Mead’s first book in this series is a huge, messy story that tends to be more confusing than illuminating. The author fails to offer much insight, leaving readers to puzzle it all out; many times, the effort simply isn’t worth it.

While Mead’s many fans may rejoice in the appearance of her new series, this complicated and often unsatisfying tale raises many more questions than it answers.